‘Halo: The Master Chief Collection’ Arrives November 11 with Four Games and More

Many months ago, Microsoft promised to deliver the next chapter in the Halo saga on the Xbox One before the end of 2014. When Halo 5: Guardians was confirmed for a 2015 release date, rumors continued to grow that the Xbox One Halo experience would be a Halo 2 Anniversary Edition or maybe even a Halo: The Master Chief Collection, that included ports of all four numbered games in the franchise. It turns out those rumors were pretty spot on…

During the Xbox presentation at E3 this afternoon, 343 Industries confirmed that Master Chief’s journey will make its way to the Xbox One this fall with Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The all-inclusive package gives consumers the opportunity to pick up Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4 in one convenient and affordable bundle. Gamers get all four original Master Chief adventures packed with every level, every multiplayer map (that’s over 100 maps), and every original gameplay mode for just $59.99.

All four gamers will be running at 1080p, 60fps on dedicated servers, which will offer gameplay experience on the classic titles like never before. For the first time ever, Halo fans will be able to experience the original Halo game in an online environment. For longtime fans of the franchise, that alone is a dream come true.

As players work through the first four chapters in Master Chief’s saga, they will be able to chip away at The Master Chief Collection’s 4,000 gamerscore. The list of achievements will be unique to the new collection, so players won’t necessarily be hunting down the same goals they tackled over the last ten years or so.

As the rumors suggested, a souped-up 10 year anniversary edition of Halo 2 will be the most exciting inclusion in the Master Chief Collection. The presentation explained that Halo 2 will receive the full anniversary edition treatment and get a bit of special extra attention. In addition to recreating the Halo 2 multiplayer experience with all of its original features (including dual-wielding!), the remake will also get brand-new visual assets to look a bit more at home on the new-gen console.

The cinematics and cut-scenes for the Halo 2 campaign will also receive a fresh coat of paint from Blur studios. Players can expect to see the developers tag on an additional prologue and epilogue to enhance the Halo 2 cinematics and maybe even retcon in some Halo 5 foreshadowing and lore.

In addition to the already overflowing amount of content in the collection, buyers also receive access to the digital series, Halo Nightfall. Not to be confused with the upcoming Steven Spielberg-produced Halo series, Nightfall is produced by another superstar, Ridley Scott, and focuses on bridging the gap between the original four Halo games and the era of Halo 5.

Last, but certainly not least, the collection will include beta access to Halo 5: Guardians, which will begin this December. The weekly episodes of Nightfall will lead up to the launch of the beta. Check back shortly for more details on that.

Will you be picking up Halo: The Master Chief Collection? Let us know in the comments.

23 Comments

The all-inclusive package gives consumers the opportunity to pick up Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4 in one convenient and affordable bundle. Gamers get all four original Master Chief adventures packed with every level, every multiplayer map (that’s over 100 maps), and every original gameplay mode for just $59.99

this is fantastic, but i am pretty disappointed that we wont be able to get the Halo 2 remake on the 360. The console is more than capable of handling a remade original xbox game. I really want to be able to relive my favorite childhood shooter without buying a whole new console.

It is no-way capable of handling a remake. The 360 barely handled Halo 4 as it is. I experienced so many frame rate problems playing it, I can’t wait to play it on the Xbox One.

Besides, the Xbox 360 doesn’t have a blu-ray player so it wouldn’t be able to fit this all on one disk, even halo 4 needed two disks so that would amount to five maybe six disks.

And why are you complaining about not being able to relive your childhood shooter? All of the Halos are still playable on the Xbox 360 so just go and buy them since it is backwards compatible with the first Xbox. The Xbox One cannot play any previous gen games so it makes sense to bring them all out on the Xbox One. I still have all my copies of Halo since I bought them, they (and GTA V) are the only reason I haven’t sold my 360.

im not saying i cant just play my old copy of halo 2, but i want online capabilities as well. It doesnt matter anyway since ill probably end up getting an xbox one just for this bundle, and a couple other games. But it just makes sense to release at least a halo 2 anniversary on the 360, that way we can have all three original halos on that console, since we already have halo 1 anniversary.

and as for frame rate issues on halo 4, i never experienced any problems with that game, and in my opinion was the best halo since 3.

This is a forsure for any halo gamer! if they actully have all maps for the games online mode (like a lobby with 100 maps too go one from then next in your classic slayer playlist) would be the cherry on top

IF ANYONE SAW THE HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION…..OMG! the new spartan on the cover box of halo 5 is name agent clark, most likely an oni operative, and he is either working for or with the ARBITER. WHAT OMG NO, BUT YES, the one that worked with chief in halo 3. storyline has something to do with the arbiter saying “because all our lives are at stake”. I’m taking a guess that the clark has to find chief and bring him to the arbiter, probably to his home planet (kinda doubt because in halo 4 it was unsc vs covenant with elites as their leader) *THIS IS ONLY AN INFERENCE AND AN ANALYSIS SO NO NEG COMMENTS PLEASE*

So no Halo Anniversary? A complete retrospective with one new remake and one omitted remake? Sounds odd. Still, an X1 polished H2 is the huge draw for me. Such a classic! I’m in for that alone. Hey wait, no Reach or ODST either… Hence MC Collection, I suppose.

The lack of Reach and ODST is actually a good thing here, imagine the hours spent re-tooling the classics that COUND be spent making a properly GOOD Halo (not been done since Reach) and make that the star of an E3. Not that anyone is listening but Martin O’Donnel should be invited to score Halo 5, because Halo 4 was a disaster. B for effort Niel, it did not fit anything, and that was a big detractor. But seriously why a set of re-makes? Its just silly.

The good news, I assume, is that the people who retooled these older games were in no way removed from the team that was making new halo games. Much as Elder Scrools Online is not competing with ES6 for resources, I doubt your interests are damaged here. (You probably know that the composer got fired, too. That sucks in my book, as I am a fan of his work.)

I know when you search in match making it gives you a mix of halo 1,2,3 and 4 games so if you choose team slayer it could be on either one of the games but is there a way to just stick to one? Like if i just wanted to play halo 2 multiplayer is there an option for that? If there isnt i really think they should add that in.